Schrettle, Karina

Abstract [en]

The EU has been struggling with major debt and refugee crises in recent years and its handling has left a lot to be desired. Additionally, the EU has been diagnosed with a ‘democratic deficit’ as well as being invisible in the public spheres of its member states. Yet, both the EU’s democratic deficit and lack of visibility can be related to a larger problem of representation in media and democracy in the age of globalization. A European public sphere is often said to have the potential to counter the EU’s democratic deficit and invisibility but it is debated whether it really exists and if so, if it is effective. Therefore, this study uses framing analysis to compare the representations of the Greek crisis in 2015 in the three transnational broadcasters BBC World, Deutsche Welle, and Euronews in order to determine whether their reporting would fulfill the preconditions for European public sphere based on Risse’s (2014) criteria, and what their narratives about governance and democracy in the EU are. The results show that the broadcasters would fulfill the preconditions of a European public sphere but that it has great limitations. National governments were still the points of reference and primary definers of crisis in the news reports and the EU was represented as a community of states rather than as an institution legitimized by democratic principles. Furthermore, the broadcasters’ institutional and cultural backgrounds have great influence on their reporting. Therefore, an effective European public sphere and democratization seem to depend on a structural transformation of the EU.